Up The Wall
by TwistedInABottle
Summary: The last person expected to drive him up the wall was one pink haired kunoichi by the name of Haruno Sakura. Shikamaru is terrified when the prospect of being pushed off the edge seems not to be so bad afterall... ShikaSaku drama before fluff! Yay!
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto, some Japanese guy does, damn you Kishi!

Title: Up The Wall.

Chapter 1

Rating: T, just for safety, and because I am too much of a little girl at heart to even dream of writing lemon.

* * *

Ever since Shikamaru had moved into his own place he was learning the troublesome truths of the world through his new role as a single and successful male. Of course, his mother still nagged, his father was still a whipped coward and Shikamaru was still–

"Lazy!" Ino announced with a stomp of her foot. "Cant you get off your butt and do _anything?_ And look at me when I'm talking to you Nara Shikamaru, its rude! All you do is sit around all day smoking that damn cigarette and watching some stupid _clouds_ and you cant even stop being a lazy bum to answer the summons of the _Hokage?"_

And the women were still annoying.

Shikamaru sighed; cracking one eyelid open to observe the blonde bombshell that was looming above him. Really, his teammate could be such an ordeal. "Ino," he murmured, the cigarette cocked to the side of his mouth. "Go away."

A vein throbbed in the Yamanaka goddess's temple and all she saw was red. When someone says hell hath no fury like a woman scorned they also meant there is nothing louder than said woman, especially if she was the buxom blonde that was Yamanaka Ino. "Nara! You are a _nineteen year old jounin_, _head_ of the elite _ANBU_ special strategic planning unit and _heir_ to your clan. _How_ in _Kami's name_ did you accomplish these things when you're too much of a _lethargic sloth_ to get off your _ass_ and do _anything?_ And I don't care how _troublesome_ you think the Hokage's summons are, if you do not get up, _right now_. I _swear_, I'll possess your body and make you hit on freaking' _Neiji_ whilst wearing a pink dress that the whole of Konoha will not forget for a _very long time!"_

Ino was breathless from her long tirade of abuses; she inhaled and exhaled in a very threatening manner.

But in that case, well…

She could be very articulate with her threats when she wanted to be. So Shikamaru stubbed out his cigarette and raised himself to a sitting position, very slowly. The grass felt so soft and there was a perfect breeze that made the clouds lightly float over a wild streak of sky. This was so troublesome, Nara Shiamaru would much rather stay here than go see Naruto. But Ino's threats hit home and he could reach a compromise.

As if to remind him, Ino spoke again. "Jeez, the clouds will still be here when you get back, Shikamaru!"

"Whatever." Shikamaru sighed wearily then got up completely, yet too slowly for it to be obedience. "I'll go now."

The expression of fury on Ino's face within a blink turned into the tranquil and happy expression of a cute girl. Women sure were crazy.

He shoved his hands into pockets and assumed a lazy slouch as he walked towards the Hokage tower and sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

* * *

"What is it Hokage-sama?"

The blonde's grin widened, if it grew any further then he would be _squinting._

"_What?"_

"Say Hokage!"

Eyes narrowed. "Don't be stupid."

"Aw, come on, just one more time. _Pleeeeaaase?"_

"Argh, Naruto!"

"Sakura-chan! You're so _mean_ – _Don't hit!don't hit_! – _**OWW!"**_

"That's what you get for being – Oh, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru sighed, again, leaning against the door frame. The two had not noticed his presence and until now he had been content to watch their theatric interactions. "Yo."

Naruto waved from behind the large oak table, towers of paper work threatening to fall over by the erratically enthusiastic motion. His blue eyes were bright with intoxicating happiness but a lump – courtesy of Sakura – throbbed painfully on the side of his head.

Sakura's pink head bobbed in greeting, her short tresses brushing her ears. And Shikamaru wondered vaguely why she kept cutting her hair, the Uchiha was gone, she didn't have to prove herself to him or anyone else anymore, everyone knew she was the best med-nin and a tough kunoichi to beat. Haruno Sakura had matured a long way, but why did she still feel she needed to prove that? He sighed. Why was he thinking about hair of all things? She was none of his business and frankly he didn't care that it looked better shorter than long. He turned his gaze back to the blonde so he didn't seem to be staring.

"You wanted me for something."

"Yeah, Sakura has a few concerns." He said in a stage-whisper as if Sakura was not standing right by his chair. "She wants to… _examine _you." The lewd suggestive tone he used with the wiggling of his brows was not lost on either of them and Sakura's prompt fist cut the innuendo short.

"Naruto-Baka, why is it that Jiraiya's students always make it so there are always perverts behind the Hokage table?"

"Sakura-chan, I can't help it!"

Shikamaru _'ahem'-ed_ loudly behind his fist and both members of Team 7 turned back to him, Sakura ceased her abuse and gave him with a radiant smile. "I'm doing some medical research on how Shinobi's habits affect their performance in the field." There was something captivatingly ethereal about Haruno Sakura when she smiled, Shikamaru was not a sentimental guy, but he could see why Sakura was known as the village's favorite cherry blossom. Whenever she smiled it was like spring had come early – Bah! _Spring come early?_ Since when did _Nara Shikamaru_ use _similes_ and_allude to seasons of the year_, since when was he _poetic?_ He must be loosing his mind. "And since you're an avid smoker I wanted to run some tests."

Shikamaru raised a brow and repeated _"Avid smoker..."_

"Yes, you are an avid smoker." Sakura stated politely but in such a way that she made it sound as if he was dense. Which irritated Shikamaru slightly. Alright, it irritated him a lot. "How many packs do you smoke a day?"

"About nine," He shrugged his shoulders. "Give or take."

She tapped her rose petal lips with a finger, looking thoughtful. "Nine a day, since you were fifteen, that's about four years you've been smoking yourself into an early grave, right?"

His eyes narrowed sensing the danger, growling at the threat. "I assure you, my performance in the field is not affected, I can execute my missions perfectly fine."

"Perfectly fine," she echoed, staring off into the distance before meeting his gaze again. "Yes but your habit may be preventing you from doing it _better."_

Shikamaru scoffed, looking very irate indeed. "If this is some half-brained scheme to make me stop smoking, then forget it." The hands in his pockets fisted for a brief moment. "Now, do you have anything else that you need me for or can I just leave, _Hokage-sama?"_

Naruto leaned back with a wounded expression at the cold formal tone. He placed his hand on his heart assuming a gesture of honesty and hurt. "Aw, Shikamaru. That's not what Sakura-chan wants you to do, she'd never dream of stopping you, would you Sakura-chan?"

The med-nin's green eyes softened and she offered a light and understanding smile. "Ofcourse not, I know how important this is to you." The smile tuned into a playful grin. "I'd never want to get in the way of Shikamaru expressing the poetic value of anything, I understand – "

_"Poetic value?"_ both males blanched at her statement.

She looked confused at Shikamaru's obvious unrest. "Yes – the symbolism of the action cannot be denied. Smoking is a testament to the memory of your senseii, because all of you used to lecture Asuma on his addiction, you use poetic irony by taking up that mantle of a smoker, that way, you can not only never forget him, but by adopting his quirks you remind those around you of him." She stopped and smiled another radiant smile. "Isn't that just beautiful?"

"No." Shikamaru stated bluntly. The embarrassed flush on his cheeks was slowly vanishing but had not gone unnoticed. Damn, why did she have to psychoanalyze him, he was the main genius; he was the one who psychoanalyzed, not the other way around!

"Anyway, Shikamaru." Naruto waved his hand about in a brushing off gesture. "Sakura wants to checkup on you. She'll be observing you closely. Innuendo not intended." He raised himself out of his seat and stretched. "Well, I gotta go. I have a date with Hinata-chan and I shouldn't be late, no – Sakura-chan, I _know_, we _wont_ go to Ichiraku's. You've warned me a _thousand times_ that Ichiraku is not a _date-date_ place, Ok!"

He brushed past the both of them, and gave the Nara-heir a comradely pat on the back before he left him to the dragons.

The pink-haired med-nin laughed nervously at the awkward silence that Naruto left before assuming an expression that Shikamaru knew all too well, it was the shinobi-in-the-zone clinical mood being switched on. She picked up a clipboard from the cluttered desk and clicked her pen. "So, the initial aim here is to check on how you're addiction has been affecting you, what it has been doing to your body. This way we can assess the damage done and find a way to fix it." She scribbled furiously while she spoke. "I'm hoping that if my study is successful, we can let you keep your smoking by repairing the damage done on a monthly basis."

"Repair..." he echoed skeptically.

She gave a sharp nod. "I'm hoping we can extract the tar you've accumulated from your lungs, thus unblocking the places where ash has clogged up, not only freeing your airways but also your chakra flow as nicotine tends to sow down and hinder those areas of you're body. If we are successful, you can reach you're full potential, keep your ashtray and also help shinobi with similar traits and addictions in the future."

"I _am not_ addicted." He growled.

To which she smiled. "Ofcourse you aren't."

* * *

Shikamaru concluded that all women were just too _damn persistent_ to be anything but troublesome when a wide-eyed, pink-haired, med-nin appeared at his training grounds later that week.

"Well, I haven't done my first study yet and it's been three days since I saw you at the Hokage's office!" Sakura retorted when his bored and annoyed glance said all.

He looked at the stump he had just shattered into pieces with a shadow fist then looked back to her. No, he wasn't that sadistic to entertain such ideas but he was very ostentatious in studying both simultaneously so that she was aware he may be contemplating taking up such thoughts.

The subtlety was not lost on her and a corner of her lips quirked up in a smile in reaction to the vague threat.

"How long will you take?" he asked her, straight to the point.

She folded her arms over her chest. The Haruno doll dress of their gennin days had been ditched for something still characteristic of her; she had slung her med-nin coat over one shoulder and stood there expectantly in a red shirt with a zip skirt and long legged boots. It had to be pretty troublesome for her to alternate between wearing a jounin coat and a med-nin one, she couldn't very well wear both at the same time. Her gloves were tucked in her back pocket for easy reach, so he couldn't afford to incite her anger, she would just pummel him into the ground with those monstrous fists of hers.

She was a woman now, he supposed. She may not have developed the huge bossom her former mentor had been famous for, but she was pretty ample chested to distinguish her as a beautiful woman. The pink of her hair somehow looked less ridiculous, it was short and her tresses were probably pretty soft, she smelled like cherry-blossoms.

And she was petite, small boned with delicate curves. Everything a kunoichi should be, built to be light, quick and nimble.

But her most memorable features were those wide green eyes, so long lashed that they probably tangled themselves when she blinked. She was innocent, to an extent she was naïve, but Haruno Sakura made you know that she was anything but stupid. She also had this open-faced honest look about her, you could so easily tell what she was feeling, she just couldn't hide her emotions, it should have made her weak, it did, but…somehow she was all the stronger for it. He liked her spirit, he decided, because she was human. But she was also female, which was troublesome.

"It'll take twenty minutes at least," she spoke through that small pouty rose bud mouth of hers. "And stop _psychoanalyzing_ me. _Jeez, Shikamaru."_

"That's not – I mean, that isn't what I'm doing." Shikamaru reddened, cutting his sidelong glance of observation short from her comment. At least she thought he was simply analyzing her and not her…_other_ features.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well – I don't need you to carve out some opinion on me and I don't care if you think I'm weak and naïve or whatever –"

Shikamaru released his shadow clone from the tree stump and straightened, "For someone who doesn't care what other people think you sure look a hell lot like you do." He smirked over his shoulder at her. "I'm done so let's get this over with."

"You've only been training an hour, Nara and all you've done is strangle a few trees with your shadow hand." She returned the smirk a little more acidly than was required. "Are you really that _lazy_or is your stamina just _low?"_

He must have looked almost as surprised as he felt because she laughed, a light fleeting beautiful sound. How had she known he was here an hour, she _couldn't _have been watching him the whole time without his noticing, that – that was just _impossible!_ Either Shikamaru was _really _slipping up or Haruno Sakura was more adept at sneaking around than he had given her credit for. He opened his mouth and retorted "Its not being lazy – "

_"It's conserving energy."_ She finished quoting him. "Yeah, Ino told me _all _about it."

Then he realized his replies to Ino about his laziness being brought up in this conversation had just dug himself a deeper hole. He sighed – turning round to face her, and they both knew what she was shooting for next.

"But _why_ would you need to be conserving energy?" she tapped her chin in a mock-thoughtful pose "_Where_ does that link in with my study on the effects of smoking. _Don't tell me Shikamaru?_ You're lazy because…your stamina must _suck."_

"My stamina is fine" he growled and took a threatening step forward. "I am a long-range fighter, my stamina –"

"Face it, Shikamaru." She grinned and stuck out her tongue out at him in an impromptu gesture of girly cuteness, which sort of caught him off guard. "I won. Now sit your butt down, here." She pointed to the forest ground before her. "And in twenty minutes I'll be done for the day!"

He looked up at the sky, so blue and filled with spring white clouds, it was a beautiful day. "Hey, Sakura." He said eyes still on the sky. "Do you think we could do this somewhere else?"

She sighed, wearily. "Alright, let's go to your silly hill so you can watch your_ precious_ clouds. _Jeez,_ Shikamaru, you are such a..._troublesome guy."_

He shrugged and moved past her, already walking to their destination. "And you are a troublesome woman."

He did not see the blush that flushed her throat but he felt the slight falter in her step when she followed after him and guessed that no one had ever called her a woman before. Shikamaru could only wonder why.

* * *

A/N: Anyway, you guys know the drill. Anything to say, comments to make, things to recommend - or flame - yada yada yada- that little reveiw button is right down there so dont hesitate to speak up!


	2. Chapter Two

Title: Up The Wall.

Chapter Two.

Disclaimer: I do not own.

_

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_

"Scoot back a little."

Shikamaru sighed and obeyed till his back brushed her crossed legs. Sakura rewarded the sound of irritation by poking him sharply in the back of his stupid pineapple head. "And stop slouching all the time. Jeez, you're as bad as Kakashi-senseii!"

They were sitting on his hill, her hands on his shoulders; his spine bumping her crossed legs when she was sitting behind him.

"I slouch, you nag. But you're worse than Ino and my mother," he muttered "Combined."

He felt her shrug behind him before she placed her hands on his shoulders. Now – Shikamaru was a smart, highly talented shinobi – but he was also a living breathing male and it was hard to not to warm, shudder at the soft feel of a females fingers when she placed them lightly over either side of your neck, whispering over your pulse points. Kami, pray she did not see the blush rise up his nape. "I like you're mother, she's someone who goes out there and gets what she wants, when she wants it. And she wont take no for an answer." The pink haired med-nin chattered on behind him oblivious to the effect she was having on poor poor Shikamaru. He was too busy trying to control his coloring, hardly noticing when the green healing chakra glowed over her finger tips, pressing even more into his skin so the insane warmth began coursing through. "She's exactly what every woman should be; determined."

His words were raspier than usual when he spoke them, battling with the absurd notion that he could be flustered by a woman's hands on him. Him, flustered – Ha! By a woman no less! Priceless, Impossible. No way in hell could anything faze Nara Shikamaru. No way in freaking hell. He almost choked "And she's still exactly what every woman is." Blades of grass came away as the hand he had been laying on the earth clenched with frustration at himself and at her for smelling like cherry blossoms, for having green green eyes, and – curses of curses – for having such damn soft hands!

"And what would that be?" she asked absentmindedly, obviously concentrating on the task at hand.

Maybe if he had kept his mouth shut he wouldn't have felt her fingertips tense, her chakra falter, sense her whole frame become rigid as the air before them froze. But he did say it, Nara Shikamaru opened his mouth and said the one word that could shut Sakura up faster than anything else could;

"Annoying."

* * *

"Annoying…." she echoed.

Shikamaru looked over his shoulder, wondering why she sounded so hollow, how she could sound so hollow. His inquiry was turned into a wince when she pressed sharply onto his neck and continued the chakra insertion into his system with much more force than was necessary.

"Tch." Shikamaru muttered irritably. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Her tone made him scowl. It was formal, it was cold….it was nothing like Sakura. This bothered him a lot more than he thought it ever could. "Blood cholesterol levels are higher than normal; fortunately this has not reached the extent to which it has become irreversible. Blood vessels have a very thin lining which is the source of the slow rate at which your blood flows, evidently this puts a strain on your heart muscles as it struggles to pump it round. Inadvertently, this causes the slow down of chakra circulating the body. Quite a few of you're chakra points are in danger of becoming blocked, three of them have been rendered weak, if you were to summon chakra from them it would gutter and spout fitfully rather than in a manner that would assure an attack of full potential….."

And on she recited what she had found wrong with him, what she could fix, apparently, she thought she could fix everything. Shikamaru hardly listened to her words, she listened more to the way she said them. Which made him want to tell her to shut up and stop sounding like a damn robot.

But he refrained from commenting negatively, Sakura was being strange and Shikamaru didn't want to risk anything right now, he knew how unpredictable a woman could be.

She was already getting up, brushing her knees off lightly before reminding him with a detached interest that she would see him the next week and conduct the first of a long series of damage-control appointments.

"I'll be on a mission in Stone-country." He made no move to get up, throwing his words in that disinterested, bored manner characteristic of him. A voice somewhere reminded him that a long time ago his mother may have said it was rude to sit and speak to someone when they were obviously standing. But Shikamaru ignored it. It was too troublesome to get up. And fat chance that he would if Sakura was being too much of a stubborn female to remain sitting. "Wont be here for another two weeks."

"Oh," she said "You've been taken off duty for the next four weeks."

"What?"

"Hokage's orders, take it up with him." She ignored his outburst with a blank stare before turning around to walk away. "And anyway, I'm not done with you."

"You can't take me off missions! I'm the team leader for the next one, it is absolutely vital that I am present, who the hell else is going to do it in – "

"Someone's going in your place. Your hardly that indisposable," She replied coolly. "Hyuuga Neiji is adequate enough."

And she walked away, not seeing the vein that positively bulged in Shikamaru's temple.

Hyuuga…freakin…Neiji…? No way in hell!

After three minutes of stewing in Angstville – Uchiha would be proud – and Sakura was no where in sight, Shikamaru got up. He was going to rip himself a bit of some Naruto.

The prospect of murder had never looked so attractive.

* * *

AN: Yup, reviews are awesome, by the way.


	3. Chapter Three

Title: Up The Wall

Chapter Three.

Dislcaimer: I no own.

* * *

There were many reasons why a respected shinobi should not go tearing through the village, itching for conflict with other shinobi. Especially if it was a fine day when said shinobi would much rather be lolling it out on a hill somewhere, cloud watching than getting blood on his clothes. But Uzumaki Naruto had crossed the invisible lines that made up one of Shikamaru's life rules – yes lazy ass Shikamaru a sense of regulation to some things in his life. He had a code dammit! A code that was stringently and strictly followed, never ever to be undermined. And that was his mission duties, no one dared dictate what Shikamaru did for Konoha but yes, one very blonde loud mouthed shinobi had not bothered to realise this before he went on ahead and dared mess with Shikamaru'S ANBU duties.

To say Shikamaru was pissed would be an understatement.

There were many reasons why a respected shinobi did not go tearing through the village, itching for conflict with other shinobi.

It was around the street corner that sold those shaved ice things Ino had once shoved down the back of the jounin's shirt that such reasons were inevitably ignored.

By the Hokage no less.

"NARA!"

The blonde whirlwind turned plenty of heads, forcing them to gawp in as the Nara-heir yelped and was unceremoniously tackled to the ground.

"What the hell did you do to Sakura-chan?" a furious face pressed almost nose to nose with his own, blue eyes blazed, and hands fisting in Shikamaru's custom green jounin vest. Shikamaru scowled at the growling Hokage, just the idiot he had been looking for.

"You put me on probation." Shikamaru never snarled, but he came quite close to it. "So I could be experimented on by your psychotic pink-haired teamate. None of this was necessary, but the hell if I'll let you dictate my duties!"

"I'm sorry," Naruto's eyes narrowed, the blonde's tone dripped acerbic sarcasm, going so far as to shake the jounin he was straddling efficiently enough to emphasize whatever point he was attempting to make,. "But did you not hear me ask a question?"

"Go to hell, we are dicussingI didn't do anything to her. Blaming her epic mood swings on me would be , according to her she doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks or does in accordance to her, so why the hell would I matter?"

"Screw that shit, I'm asking you what you did to Sakura-chan not discussing your fucking work ethic!" Naruto shook the boy under him, oblivious to the crowd. "So speak it to me straight before you get a mouthful of fist!"

The blonde was making an embarrassing scene, things were getting troublesome and Naruto was quite heavy anyway. Damn. "I didn't do anything. One moment she was fine and the next she wasn't." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and gave a sigh he usually reserved for incredibly idiotic people who were wearing down his supreme patience "Now get off me before you get an assful of boot."

Naruto frowned, seeming to zone out for a few moments and Shikamaru waited pointedly for the idiot who had somehow aquired the position of Hokage to get his ass of him so he could kick it to freaking Suna.

"Jeez, Naruto." Shikamaru drawled sarcastically. "She's a woman, women are troublesome. They act weird how am I supposed to know? Now get up so we can settle this somewhere else."

"Sure." Naruto said absently, abruptly letting the pineapple headed shinobi go so his head thudded in a satisfyingly painful manner on the cobbled stone ways of the street ground. The blonde's hands flashed through a series of handseals for the A-Class teleportation jutsu.

POOF!

When the smoke cleared from the teleportation jutsu everyone went on with their work.

_

* * *

_AN: So...yeah.


	4. Hokage talks,part 2, Troublesome

AN: Whoa, I'm surprised about the amount of demand for this fic. It makes me all sweet and gooey inside. I am so flattered by your awesome responses! SQUEEL! Anyway, this is a longer piece, things are finally moving somewhere and they'll definitely be some action after this add. So don't worry, it's coming!

List of awesome pEoPlzzz:

**hugatree9848** (Whoa! Your reviewing just so I can update? You're so awesome!)

**goonielove** (Sure will do! Sorry for making you wait so long)

**MYinnerNINJA** (Shikamaru is an _idiot_ for using the forbidden word. But we still love him anyway!)

**FreedomIsPirateKey** (Thanks, it's good to know I didn't mess up in describing Sakura because it's really tough to pull it off without sounding cheesy! You didn't think her reaction was a bit over the top…? I'm so glad!)

**ChiakitheHedgehogKoniochi** (this is my favourite crack pairing too! Won't keep you waiting too long for more!)

**Pfyt** (Aw, sempai! You rocked as my beta for 'Linger', I owe you so much! And your fics are AWESOME. Anyone whose reading this, go and read Pfyt's work NOW, her one-shots are the BOMB!)

**Zadite** (I get over-excited when a good ShikaSaku story comes around. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one!)

**Sholeyn-Monkey!** (Your username is totally unique! Where'd you get it? Oh, and thanks for the review!)

**Peanutbutterygoodness** (Your username made me hungry…thanks for the review, and no, I don't think Shika will ever give up on smoking. That's a flaw you just gotta love him for.)

**Shika is ma man** (No, you're wrong; Shika is MY man, hands-off.)

**Xladykittyx** (I'll try and keep my writing as good as I can make it, thanks for reviewing!)

**Paper Walls** (Shikamaru and Sakura are some of my favourite characters too, they are so dynamically and diabolicaly awesome!)

Oh, and I'm also aware that there are a few stupid spelling mistakes and other annoying grammatical errors with associated with typos and overdosing on Coffee, this sucks ultimately because my internet is being a troublesome failure by not allowing me to open and edit-out these mistakes. So please, I'm asking you to tolerate those stupid mistakes while I try to fix them. Ok? Yeah, this one I checked and re-checked and should hopefully be satisfactory as a recent add.

Awesome sauce!

Now, read on. And you'll be awesome if you review, I promise!

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Naruto leaned back and propped his feet onto the large table, arms folded loosely over his stomach, frowning thoughtfully at the ceiling, all in all behaving like he did not have a smoldering Nara sitting before him, whose eye was twitching from restraining his urge to commit unspeakable violence.

Naruto looked out the window at unbearably beautiful day, sighed and muttered something about masochists and chauvinists before speaking "Look, this isn't personal." He told the ceiling seriously. "I do admit that I did this for your benefit, but it was, at first, the best I could do for Sakura-chan."

Shikamaru attempted to relax, failed, and instead reclined back in his chair. Anger replaced by a calmer sort of interest in what the Hokage was saying.

"It had to be one of you guys. I chose you by method of elimination," he went on, one hand rising to gesture vaguely in the air. "So I made a list and crossed off the names I didn't think where suitable." He nodded firmly and seemed to steel himself for the next few sentences. "I thought about Hinata's Team, Shino was too…monosyballic, and you know, Aburame-mystic, I didn't think he was suitable. He was too serious. Kiba was too rowdy, and loud, and besides he smells like a dog. Not suitable for Sakura-chan, _at all._ Rock Lee's enthusiasm was overwhelming, he's 'youthfulness' is just too…exuberant for Sakura to handle. Then Neiji emotional capabilities are out of sync even when he's not impersonating a freezer most of the time, he's too much like the Teme…" a pained grimace at the mention of the Uchiha that did not go unnoticed. "And there was Chouji, I'm not interested in disturbing that weird thing him and Ino have going on, its much too sweet. There was only one male candidate remaining…"

"So you chose me." Shikamaru's voice was hollow, dazed, as if he couldn't believe he was speaking. "For what exactly, please elaborate, Hokage-sama."

"You…" Naruto coughed awkwardly into his fist, looking caged as his gaze flitted sureptiously at everything in the Hokage office but Shikamaru's eyes. He did not need to hear this and Kami, when the sky was so blue and warm outside the damn window, mocking him, _mocking_ him in its out-of-reach-ness when it _knew_ Shikamaru was being forced to listen to what he did not want nor need to hear. "Well, you're _Shikamaru_ and you're smart. Sakura-chan's smart too. And you're lonely, apart from that weird dissipated on-and-off _thing_ you have with Gaara's sister – " Shikamaru dragged a hand down his face and groaned Did everyone know about _that_?! "Yeah, well, I don't blame you. But, you're mom keeps complaining to me how we're a bad influence if we don't even encourage you to get hitched etcetera etcetera – "

"Shutup, Naruto." The Nara sliced a hand through the air, growled and got up. "I don't want to hear anymore of this crap, don't even finish what you're saying because it's stupid. Just shutup!"

"Just listen to me!" Naruto's words were filled with harsh anger. "You know what I'm saying, why can't you just go with it?! You would do the same if our positions were reversed and if it were Ino's happiness we were talking about. This is my fucking teammate I'm trying to help here, and I'm trying to help you too, you're a friend. An annoying one at that. But, still, a friend."

Shikamaru was already out of his seat. "Go to hell. The deals off, if all this was just a hoax to get me to…to get us to.." he fisted one hand in frustration. "Stupid smoking issue _my ass!"_

Naruto visibly wilted, shoulders slumping and anger damping under the hopelessness of the issue. "If you leave now then how are we going to discuss the issue of your probation, because, you know, you were so _concerned_ about it."

Shikamaru paused, his eye stopped twitching. "Cancel the probation, I'm out of here and I am doing the mission I had to do in Stone before you brought up this bullshit."

The sudden smirk on Naruto's face was unsettling. "No can do. Probation is still on. And how the hell are you going to explain it to everyone else, let alone Sakura-chan that you quit the research she's doing on you when you've already committed yourself to it, ofcourse, _without _revealing to her this new bit of information."

Shikamaru sighed, shoved his hands down his pockets and stared down the Hokage for a long moment. He hated that stupid smirk. Besides, maintaining his anger required effort and 'effort' and 'Shikamaru' just did not mix. Seriously. He supposed he'd have to tolerate Naruto….Troublesome. "So Haruno doesn't know, does she?"

Naruto shook his head.

"If I told her this was your idea to hook – " he blanched at the idea of him being involved romantically with anyone, nevertheless with a girl whose fists could knock you into oblivion. "to hook her up with me, she'd come and kick your ass to Suna and you'd be in a hell lot'a pain. It wouldn't be my fault. And I can escape out of this stupid situation and go back to my life doing the job I was given to do as Jounin."

The Hokage nodded his blonde head, smirk turning into a sad sort of truthful smile. "That may be so." He said. "But she'd never forgive me, and even if she did. Well…you know how girls are; it would really hurt her if she ever found out, Sakura-chan…she's like that. You don't want to hurt Sakura-chan, do you?"

Damn those kicked-puppy blue eyes, looking appeasingly, pleadingly at Shikamaru. He sighed muttered a 'troublesome' and got back into his chair. "I'm not going to woo her or anything, so you can kiss that ramen-fueled notion goodbye."

Naruto nodded diplomatically.

"I'm going to be her patient, that is all." He raised a finger to punctuate his point. "After that I'm gone, so don't expect anything to happen between us."

"I'm totally cool with that." Another nod, but a sly tint spread across those sapphire eyes. "I just want you two to spend some time in eachother's company. I'm not asking for anything to happen, I'm not forcing you to make a move on her. I think Sakura-chan could like you if you didn't act like a complete asshole."

Shikamaru snorted. "Impossible."

A raise of a blonde eyebrow. "Oh, and why do you say that?"

"Tch." He rolled his eyes. How could Naruto –the Hokage, mind you – be so freaking _thick._ "She's infatuated with the Uchiha, he's not here, but…but she's waiting for him."

Naruto's laugh was more of a dark chuckle that sent up the hairs on the back of Shikamaru's neck. "Well, we'll see won't we."

"This is stupid."

"What, you don't think you could compete with the Teme?"

"You don't think, that he'd be a bit pissed if another guy – not necessarily myself – gains her affections." He debated seriously. "I mean his Sasuke has always had a monopoly of her 'kun' suffix. It will be troublesome, I don't know much about relationships but I don't want to be the pick-and-drop kind of guy – "

"Doesn't Temari pick and drop you?" Naruto deadpanned.

Tch. Was everyone going to be bringing that up now? "Well, it's more of a, stop-when-you-pass-by kind of thing. She's too close to be just-a-friend yet, we can't stand eachother to be anything more. I'm a chauvinist, she's too brashly pointed with what she says. But we work. We just don't plan on moving beyond that."

Naruto stared at him for a long time.

"Yeah," Shikamaru sighed grudgingly. "It's a pick-and-drop."

"Good!" Naruto shot him a thumbs up a la Gai-sensei, beaming wickedly in that annoying whiskered way of his. "Now all you gotta do is hang out with Sakura-chan for a while and see if anything happens."

"Nothing will happen." Shikamaru said in an exasperated fashion.

"Well, if you don't go and apologise to Sakura-chan, ofcourse not!"

"_Hell_ no." Said Shikamaru at the absurd notion of apologizing.

Blue eyes narrowed. "Hell _yes._"

"Troublesome. I refuse."

"Nara, do it, or I'll extend the probation for a few more weeks and have a little chat with Ino about you, Neiji and an inevitable pink outfit."

Shikamaru's voice was incredulous. "You _wouldn't_."

"Oh, but I _would_." Again, that stupid whiskered grin, it was just…just _evil._ "I _would._"

Shikamaru groaned. Stupid manipulative assholes. They were going to be the death of him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Godspeed Shikamaru! Yeah, he's going to apologise…I wonder how that will go? Can't say Naruto gave him a choice (shrug) – well, you know the drill; Review because if you review, I'll send you pieces of Shikamaru's hair for you to swoon over. (Ino sells the strands on Ebay for money) Yup, only awesome people review!

So leave a comment, coz I lovez me some feedback!

Jan ne!


	5. Stubborn

**AN: Wow you guys, your responses have been so AWESOME. This is a little sketchy but its the fastest update I could manage. Very Shika Team centric. And a few more side-pairings. Finaly, a short peice of ShikaSaku interaction..well, sorta.**

**Oh, and don't forget to reveiw in order to illustrate your awesomeness! **

* * *

Shikamaru's apartment was more of a Bungalow, no flashy nine storey-high buildings for this bachelore. Nope. Apatments entailed stairs, which usualy came in 'flights' which meant 'effort' which was troublesome, because no way in hell was Shikamaru going to need to drag his butt up ALL of THAT just to get to his room. Bungalows were simple. Uncomplicated.

Today he had learned how to offend the village medic-nin, the stupid amorous intentions behind the Hokage's stupid plan and to never _ever_ attempt to tell Ino not to pry into his love-life.

"Or lack, thereof." The little conniving chit had told him, having the _nerve_ to toss her hair over her shoulder in that _Ino_ way of hers. Jeez, he couldn't believe there was a time where she had the hots for him _( - a short-lived week you slob, don't let it stagnate too long in that head of yours - ) _, just because she got out of that phase and decided instead to get into that _thing_ with Chouji, she thought she could lecture him about _love_. Bleh, no way.

Love was a form of lunacy, seriously, nothing good came out of it. His father had been a man to be reckoned with before his mother had decided to go ahead and crook a finger at Shikakau. Gone was the fearless Nara shadow master, instead remained the whipped coward who was occasionally thrown out of the house by his mother and frequently passed out in drunken stupor on the street.

It was clear who wore the pants in _that _relationship.

He turned irritably onto his back to stare at the ceiling, propped his feet on his couch's arm rest and scowled. Ino had conspirated against him with the Hokage, he could bet his jounin vest that Chouji had something to do with it, his best-friend was much too cowardly and sweet not to listen to Ino, especially since they started acting like a couple of snotty-teenagers hung up on the sound of each other's voice. Ha! Another prime example of what 'love' did to men.

Hell no was Shikamaru going to be any woman's bitch. He shuddered at the very notion.

Gah, this was too troublesome!

He weaved a cigarette idly between his fingers, turning the unlit thing over and over as his mind worked. He wasn't particularly sorry for whatever the hell he'd done to offend Sakura – jeez, he called Ino annoying all the time and if she ever acted out at it then it was mostly to respond with a slap upside his head, or a catty typical Ino remark if not a fully fledged lecture in a combination of both. Cold formality was something Ino never pulled out so why did Sakura get so offended?

The most obvious answer was that the word 'annoying' touched a delicate nerve of sentimental value. He'd make sure not to call her that again.

He didn't feel like saying sorry but if that didn't somehow fix things then every meeting with her would be long, cold and painfully awkward, which wasn't ideal because as strategic head of ANBU he had to work with the head med-nin/Hokage's secretary on a very frequent basis. To frost over their professional relationship would be a pain; troublesome.

He'd have to apologise.

The amber glare of sunset hit him straight in the eyes through the blinders and he winced. It was late, damn, he'd been thinking for that long? He was tired…

He'd apologise tomorrow.

* * *

No way was he apologizing. Well, at least not verbally. An apology would be awkward if voiced, because, well, _Nara Shikamaru_ did not go about _apologizing_ to people. So maybe he'd leave it up to his actions to _show_ he was sorry.

Gah, how troublesome.

He leaned his forehead against the dark tiles of his shower-stall's wall; let the water beat the back of his neck in a staccato of rain. Exhaled. Did Sakura really look like a girl who wanted apologies and such, with the Uchiha as a teammate it wasn't like she would be one who _expected_ apologies, certainly.

That guy was an asshole.

So he'd _show_ he was sorry – (which he wasn't.)

It was late morning, and it still felt weird that just yesterday he'd had a brawl with the freaking Hokage of all people…Idiot Naruto. Given that he was off field-work then he'd probably be doing boring paperwork for the next few days, and since he wasn't bothered, he'd naturally pull a Tsunade and skip out on it. Hyuuga Neiji could handle the paper work _and_ the mission. White-eyed Hyuuga bastards who stole people's jobs, how _annoying._

Shikamaru's stomach sucked at his spine, damn, he was hungry. Hanging with the Hokage yesterday meant he had skipped out on lunch. Chouji and Ino were used to his eating habits, it's not like he didn't _like_ food, they knew that sometimes he couldn't be _bothered_ to drag his ass to the fridge and eat something (and if he hadn't dragged his ass to get groceries to PUT in the fridge then the fridge was empty) which meant one of his lunches at their team's favourite barbeque hotspot where he usually had to be dragged to by Ino and Chouji.

But when he was really _really_ hungry then he'd voluntarily _('GASP!' 'Ino, don't sound so surprised.' 'You don't understand, Chouji! Shikamaru like…__walked__ here, of his own accord!' 'Well, I guess it __is__ pretty amazing')_ go there.

And usually regretted it when he did go, because Yamanaka and Akimichi could be an overload on the senses as they were now;

"Gah! Get over it Shika, It was either her or..." she twitched in disgust. "Temari."

"You don't have to pretend you don't like her all the time." he muttered. Chouji nodded, (AGREEING with Shikamaru) which was a first in a long while since Ino and him started this _thing_. "You admited you admired her, you said she was just like - "

"I know I said I liked her because she was just like me. That's the point, _because_ she's like me, I thus know what sneaky evil deeds that chit can be capable of."

"Umm." said Chouji. "Shikamaru doesn't have to do this, does he?"

"Yeah he does." She remarked sweetly then whilst Chouji was distracted in dipping his meat into some sauce Ino mouthed threateningly three words; 'Neiji and pink.'

Shikamaru glowered at the innocent expression she suddenly put on when Chouji turned from the grill, the Akimichi actually _put_ a piece of meat on her plate! And she gushed and squealed like a school girl, Chouji turned all kinds of flustered and Shikamaru had the urge to be disgusted with everything. _Great,_ Chouji never left a piece for his best bud and suddenly Ino was getting special treatment?!

"Yeah, well I'm just going to get this over with," he yawned. "I am _not_ going to try anything with Sakura beyond being her lab-rat; our 'relationship' is professional. So you don't have to worry Chouji_. Nothing_ is going to happen."

"Well, it will after you apologise!" chirped Chouji in a rare _love-conquers-a_ll moment of optimism which gave the opportunity for Shikamaru to be very _very_ disturbed and the opportunity for Ino to crow delightfuly;

"Yeah, maybe you'll finaly get laid!"

Shikamaru squawked and spluttered all different kinds of red. "My love-life is non of your business!"

The Yamanak rolled her eyes and drapped an arm over the table to lean in a snarky comment "Yeah, maybe when you get a love-life we can discuss your rights to privacy."

Shikamaru sighed, reached for some of Ino's meat and got his hand slapped away for his troubles. Chouji put some more meat on the grill and Shikamaru managed to snag a few pieces later.

"So, when are you gonna say sorry?" His best-friend spoke through a stuffed mouth.

"Huh?" was the Nara's nonchalant reply.

Blue eyes fastened on him suspiciously and narrowed. "You're going to put it off for as long as possible, aren't you?"

Shikamaru kept tactfully silent. Which _never_ worked on Ino.

So she stabbed him.

"_The hell?!_" he snatched away his arm, blinking at the weeping blood from the kunai lodged in his hand. Chouji looked even more alarmed and Ino just explained calmly. "You'll have to go to the hospital now."

Chouji edged away from the blonde, looking disturbed and alarmed and a little bit afraid. "Why did you _stab_ Shikamaru?"

Ino shrugged boredly as if it was everyday she stuck pointy kunais into her teammates while they were unaware. "Since my shift is over, and Hinata's been spirited away by the Hokage on one of their weird date things it means that two of the only three mednins that Shika lets treat him are unavailable, oh, not counting Shizune ofcourse, because, well, she ran off with Kakashi-sensei. Remember."

"Ino, I am _so_ telling your mom." Shikamaru growled at the blood he was spilling over his jacket. "And this is a just a minor wound, I am _not_ going to go to the hospital for Sakura to heal it."

"Oh," Ino raised a sharp blonde eyebrow. "Perhaps you'd like a more serious wound?"

Dark eyes narrowed at that threat, Blue met the stare head-on, Chouji lookeing frantic from the static-eye-ball-to-eye-ball argument sizzling the air wrung his hands. And the manager of the establishment just sighed in long-suffering, shook his head and asked the waiters to come clean up the stuff on the floor.

Shikamaru groaned and leaned back. "You are totally unbeleiveable."

"It sounds better when Chouji says it." Ino deadpanned then brightened. "Now get your ass over there!"

So Shikamaru got up, indeed intending to get his 'ass over there' whilst seriously cursing all the blondes in his life. Hokages, Suna flings and crazy Yamanakas were going to _waste_ him.

Jeez, if Ino wanted to have some time alone with Chouji _that_ badly…

* * *

Sakura felt incredibly stupid. Idiotic really. And here she was cheeks as red as tomatoes, stuttering like a moron over something she should have been perfectly able to do; her _job._

Shikamaru thrust the weeping arm at her, looking annoyed and exasperated and bored and _Kami_ why the _hell_ did he have to be here?

"Ino's shift is over," he told her when she opened her mouth to protest. "Hinata is probably locked in a closet with your stupid teammate and Shizune ran off with Kakashi three years ago for his stupid retirement. Now, do I really have to explain why I need you to heal this thing?"

"How did you get it?" she asked suddenly skeptical, as if Shikamaru were not bleeding all over the floor.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to just heal this thing without questions." He said fidgeting a little in his seat by the window. The Inuzuka on the hospital grinned slyly at what he recognized as a fellow male, but an extremely incompetent one.

Her features frosted over, and she slanted him a cold look from the medicine cabinet. "Alright, I have to finish with Kiba first, you can wait for me outside."

"Woman," sighed Shikamaru. "Getting up would be troublesome."

"But this is Kiba's room and he – " she began fiercely, hands on her hips.

"Oh, no, I don't mind, man. You can stay." Said the Inuzuka, looking far too amused at Sakura's shocked expression. "Akamaru's not allowed in the hospital for more than three hours and I'm bored."

"So there it is." The Nara leaned back into his chair, making himself more comfortable. "You won't get read of me that easily"

Sakura's anger wilted away and she sighed, "But I can try, can't I?"

* * *

**AN: Yeah, MUCH more soon. Ok, I need to go right now, sorry! Oh, lots of hugs and kisses and stuff and I really hope you liked it! **


	6. The first Push

_AN: hey hey hey! I got a new add, finaly some ShikaSaku moment that is significant in their development. And let me tell you guys, your feedback has been amazing in keeping this story alive, I don't know what I'd do without you._

_The more **AWESOMESAUCE people** adds to last last chapter's list;_

_**Dancing with Machiavelli** -- man, I missed you, where've you been all this time? Was starting to get worried! Hugs!_

_**Goonilove** -- man, you are the absolute best for sticking with me in all my stories, you rock ultimately!_

_**xladykittyx** -- Phewks! I'm glad you liked it, I was afraid Ino might have been seen as too over the top for her actions, but, well, they do lead to something good!_

_**MistressSamoyedxKingWhippet** -- Oh dude, you missed last weeks big auction she held over Shikamaru's boxers!_

_**Elina-chan**--Yup, evil blonde's are totally my thing too!_

_**TwistedMusalih **- Your a Gaara fan? Me too!_

_**Bella James** - Yup, I'm a sadist! (grins)_

_**MyINNERNinja** - don't worry, the pink dress joke will continue throughout my story, it won't die easily!_

_Only reveiwers are awesome, so hurry up and be awesome TODAY! (meaning, I'd really really love it if you reveiwed!)_

* * *

"Hey," Kiba stage-whispered. "Hey, pssssst! _OI!_" His brows lowered into a glare when the dozing jounin by the seat in the window did not respond. Stupid _Naras._

One airbourne orange later;

"_The hell?!_" Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his head. He blinked blearily at the culprit, confirmed it was Kiba before he remembered he was still bleeding. He scowled at the red streaks on Kiba's cheeks as if they were the sole cause of all the troublesome blondes in his life. "What the hell did you go and do that for?"

A shrug. "Shino left me a frutibasket."

"…"

"And you were sleeping."

"Newsflash, Kiba, thanks for the _newsflash._" He said irritably, inspecting his hand gingerly and frowning at the blood that had begun to dry around his fingers, silmutaneously wondering if he would have to wait forever for Sakura to get some damn antiseptic. "I'm going to sleep, do you have anything _else_ to say?"

"You sure are cranky," observed Kiba dryly. "More so than usual."

Shikamaru yawned. "You're more talkative."

A sly grin stretched itself across the other shinobi's face, Shikamaru had had enough of sly grins this week and could do nothing but face-palm. "Ever since a few days ago you guys started hanging out more. I never thought she was the type for relationships, nor you, but –"

"Whoa whoa _WHOA!_" Shikamaru's arms raised defensively as one would when a monster truck was about to roll them over. "Where the HELL is this conversation going?!"

Kiba nodded sagely, as if he had already seen this play itself out many times. "Don't deny it, you're hot for the mednin. And I don't mean Ino, coz she'd just laugh in your face, nor do I mean Hinata, coz, you know; _I'd_ kick your ass."

Shikamaru's outer features relaxed and he rested his arms on the sides of the chair, looking as nonchalant and as unfrazzled as a Nara could be. He slouched and chuckled. "Heh, Kiba. You forget I'm not like my dad. No woman is going to make _me_ whipped."

The Inuzuka leaned back into his pillows and raised an eybrow;

"Bullshit."

"Hn."

"You're telling me that you don't find Sakura even a _teeny-weeny_ bit attractive?" Was the highly skeptical tone. "_Seriously?"_

"You should know by now, Kiba. Whether a woman is easy on the eyes or not has never affected me as a shinobi."

"_Riiiiiighhht_, coz we're _totally_ ignoring that incident on Kazekage's birthaday where Temari and Tenten got up and – "

It was Kiba's trun to dodge a fruit.

He laughed uproaraciously at the flush of indignance and embarrassement on Shikamaru's cheeks.

"Next time that'll be a kunai."

"Oh come-on, man!" Kiba laughed, enjoying himself far too much. "Sakura's pretty hot. With legs that long, dude, she could be a _dancer!"_

"Kiba…"

"I'm not much of a chest-typa-guy but that bod's pretty hot. And that waist, _damn_ you don't even wanna get me started on the hips – "

This time Shikamaru really _did_ throw a kunai.

* * *

Sakura returned, took one look at the metal glinting in the wall by Kiba's head before yanking Shikamaru bodily by the collar and dragging his lazy ass unceremoniously out of the room. The Nara was actually quite smug at this reaction, that was, until he caught sight of the thumbs-up-matching-perverted-leer combo the dog-boy flashed at him.

Now he was sitting on the edge of a bed in the next room with the sunlight glaring in from the window in a way that annoyed him. And Sakura nagging and tittering as she flitted about the cupboards gathering supplies, like a busy little bird, in a way, that annoyed him too.

Oh, what was he here for again?

Right, to apologise, for calling her annoying.

Kami, lend him strength.

The kunoichi with the outrageous hair-colour approached him and set a basin and towel next to him on the bed .

"Show it to me, please."

"Huh?!"

Sakura did not understand why Shikamaru sounded so alarmed. "Your wound Nara, the wound."

"Oh," he relaxed, flushing suddenly. "Alright." He made to yank up his black sleeves, irritated at misinterpreting such a simple request because of what notions Kiba had put into his head. Stupid, stupid, STUPID. Sakura groaned at him, rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, for some reason she found herself more efficient in rolling back the sleeves up to his sleeves herself, she was certainly more clinical. Shikamaru was too occupied to stop her. Any thoughts about firm arms flew out the window when she looked at the back of his hand properly.

"This looks like a stab wound."

"Hn."

She rolled her eyes at his stubborn refusal to say anything more on the matter of how he got it. and instead of pushing him about it she picked up the towel in the basin of what appeared to be warm water and wringed it out before beginning to run it down his arm, wiping the blood away. And he just...let her. It was kind of nice, both of them silent, her action would have even seemed tender, almost soft if there was not that edge of clinical precision about it. Surprisingly, it didn't seem too awkward, more of a nice kind of awkward...he guessed he didn't much mind this treatment. In fact, he almost thought that for a moment all the previous coldness had been forgotten, was no-more. Sort of.

"Now I'm going to stitch it up." she said quietly. "So don't be a baby about it and start whining."

"Woman, I've taken a kunai to the gut," a grin twitched at the corner of his mouth. "I'm sure I can handle a few stitches."

She laughed, got out the needle and began to sew carefully, holding his hand firmly. "Yeah, hardcore shinobi can take loosing their eyes, crushed lungs and heart failure. Just like Kakashi-sensei," she shook her head. "But take that guy anywhere near a needle be it a tiny vaccination and he flips out, refusing to come down from the ceiling for forever until you gotta call for Tsunade-shishou to drag his ass back to the ground."

"Tch. Sounds troublesome."

"Well," she smiled brightly. "That's Team Seven for you."

Somehow...Shikamaru didn't like the shadows behind that sentence. He stayed silently and decided to just not think about it, choosing instead to focus on the person holding his hand lightly, carefully, emerald eyes so brilliant in the brightness of the room that they seemed tinted gold.

He liked the concentration in the planes of her face, the sharp intelligence in the way her eyes flickered, all soft-womanly youth and honed street-smarts. She was in her med-nin attire but her gloves were still tucked at her waist and there was something about her neck, her throat...that simply _fascinated_ him, pale like the crest of a moon, tapering into the conservative folds of her uniform. If he leaned in just a bit, just a little bit then his cheek would touch the soft cherry of the top of her head.

Sure, she was noisy and kami,how she _nagged_, but he liked watching her lips move, a rose-bud pout, a bite at her lower lip, even that irritated frown of hers was made pretty by that mouth.

"Sakura."

There, she bit her lip, frowning in concentration. "Hmm?"

"About last time...Er..I geuss..Tch, I didn't really mean to - " but he stopped, shocked because Kami, was Sakura blushing? The flush painting her cheeks and throat threw him off.

"Forget it," she looked up at him, shot him one of her awkward 'bright' smiles. "I was being silly, I overreacted...and I totaly forget about it, it was stupid and I -"

"Sakura." her breath caught in her throat and she was _still_ blushing. He frowned when she averted her eyes."Hey, we're not gennin anymore. And I'm not Sasuke for you to be taking whatever shit I say to you as your fault. I'm Shikamaru, it's troublesome, but - " he sighed, rubbed the back of his head . "If I need to get called out on something, then do it, call me out."

She had long stopped sewing his skin and he saw her eyes now. They were green fire. "You're stupid. Is that supposed to be an apology?"

"No."

"Good, because that was a half-assed attempt." she sighed angrily, but the effect was runed by the smile she was struggling to supress. "Is this the part where Ino back hands you across the room for your lame excuses as to _why_ you spoiled her set of shurinkens? Come-on Shika, you can do better than that!"

Ok, he'd be insane to be considering this, but, was Haruno Sakura _flirting_ with him?! Oh, Kami is that a pout? And did she just call him _Shika _AND totaly ignore his jibe at the bastard Uchiha nukenin...? What..the..._hell?!_

She cut the string at the end of the needle,having finished her job. "Come-on, at least try say it, _say_ 'I'm sorry' and I'll give you a lollipop for being a polite patient."

"No."

"But I'm asking really nicely, and I haven't even hit you or anything. _Pleeeaaaaase?"_

He was silent for a while, looking very much like a sulky three-year old before muttering;

"_Sor - _ Tch."

And she laughed, he smirked, because that was as much as either of them had expected.

Maybe apologizing wasn't as painful as he initially thought it was.

Didn't mean he'd do it again, though.

* * *

"Chouji! Don't be cruel; you know I wanted that piece of meat." Blue eyes shone reproachfully at him and Ino's lower lip wobbled.

"But I just gave you your share before I put any on my plate…" came the mumble, cheeks flushing at their proximity.

"But the _last_ piece is the _best_ piece so be a gentleman and hand it over."

Chouji didn't get this woman, wasn't she on a diet or something?

"Aren't you on a diet or something?"

"Choujiiii!!!" came the whine. "Come-on!"

The Akimichi tried looking anywhere but at Ino, resolved not to _loose_ resolve. Instead he chanced a glance at the window, attempting to find something interesting enough to distract her.

"Oh, look! I think there's a 50% discount in that shop over there!"

"Honestly, I wouldn't have passed my ANBU exams if I fell for tricks like that."

Chouji sighed, looked longingly at the piece of meat on the end of his chopsticks, hovering between him and the woman of his dreams. This was an epic battle of wits and wills between his longing and determination to have the last piece of meat and his longing for the woman before him. Because gosh, he'd liked Ino for forever and it would be –

"Hey!" Chouji turned all kinds of red when said woman didn't give him room to think before she leaned over the table and claimed the meat for herself, her lips around his chop sticks spinning into a victorious grin. A foxy grin. Oh, kami! He didn't think he'd live this down, Ino was being incredibly forward these days and he didn't know what to make of it. All he could do was splutter and blush and feel unable of speech –

Ino swallowed and leaned back into her initial position across from looking relaxed as the cat that got the cream.

Then something happened to her face, it paled with surprise, even fear before darkening with something very much akin to rage. She was glaring at the window outside and Chouji turned around to see what had made his beloved so she-devil looking all of a sudden, his mouth dropped open, his face paled in distress;

"Yeah, it's that time of year again." she growled.

"So the plan is...out the window?" Chouji whispered, feeling incredibly afraid of his teamate's expression.

"Not necessarily, but I'll be damned if that Suna hussy fucks up my ambitions!"

Yup, Temari had come to town.

* * *

_AN: Cha!!!! Oh, my god, was that scene cheesy or what?! Oh, thought I'd drop a scene by because I'm not going to be writing for a while, I got exams to study for people!_

_Well, atleast I brought on that great ShikaSaku scene you guys kept on rooting for, don't worry, the next add will contain a MAJOR developement that will rock this story and bring in a little drama._

_You guys, if you reveiw I'll be really really happy! And also, I really wanna see how you guys took this scene, I want feedback to help improve the ShikaSaku-ness!_


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